An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Archives

NEWS | Nov. 12, 2020

Colorado Air National Guard fighter wing builds readiness with Canadian partners in NORAD exercise

By Senior Master Sgt. John Rohrer, Colorado Air National Guard CONG, TAG, 140

GOOSE BAY, Newfoundland Labrador— U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Colorado Air National Guard's 140th Wing, based at Buckley Air Force Base, Aurora, Colorado, participated in North American Aerospace Defense Command's Arctic dynamic force employment operations at 5 Wing, Goose Bay, Royal Canadian Air Force, Sept. 20-23, 2020. 

As a bi-national Canadian and American command, NORAD employs a network of space-based, aerial and ground-based sensors, air-to-air refueling tankers, and fighter aircraft, controlled by a sophisticated command and control network to deter, detect and defend against aerial threats that originate outside or within North American airspace.

According to NORAD, this dynamic force employment operation demonstrated the U.S./Canadian readiness, air capability, and will to defend the United States and Canada from competitors who continue to test North American defenses.

U.S. Air Force aircraft supporting the operation alongside the COANG included a B-52 Stratofortress from the 5th Bomb Wing, Minot, North Dakota, a Canadian CC-150 Polaris refueler aircraft from the 437th Transport Squadron, and CF-188 Hornet fighter jets from the 425th Tactical Fighter Squadron.

“The importance of performing these types of operations is to be able to adapt to ever changing environments and prove that we can work with our Canadian partners seamlessly,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Gossner, commander, 120th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron said.   

“Operation Noble Defender allowed the 140th Wing to execute Agile Combat Employment in a more robust, aggressive manner,” U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Mike Horner, 140th Maintenance Section, said. “Our past ACE events have been very transient in nature, however, Operation Noble Defender allowed us to leverage the ACE framework to deploy a small force of aircraft, equipment, and multi-capable Airmen and offer a persistent combat capability for the combatant commander.”

The operation was designed to address any and all threats to North America while maintaining a heightened awareness of potential impacts and challenges of the novel coronavirus.

“COVID-19 has added an extra challenge to the mission, by creating a quarantine and testing condition that we hadn’t previously had to deal with,” Gossner said.

Along with social-distancing restrictions in place at Goose Bay, members had to quarantine and test prior to deploying to ensure that the virus would not spread during vital training missions.

“In the end, we were able to accomplish the mission effectively,” Gossner said.

Operation Noble Defender was the first full-scale use of the Multi-Capable Airmen concept by the 140th Wing. 

“We deployed Airmen who were empowered to execute mission and functional areas that would require either a much larger force on the ground, or the commander to accept unnecessary risk,” said Horner.   “Empowered Airmen, who are trained in multiple tasks and functional areas, reduce the overall mission risk and increase efficacy and lethality of the ACE team.”

 

Exercises like this allow units to build upon previous experiences and mold them into a multitude of scenarios, allowing adaption to an ever-evolving combat environment.

“The 140th Wing demonstrated our ability to support NORAD-NORTHCOM (U.S. Northern Command) homeland defense and deterrence objectives with a small lethal ACE team, postured at a forward operating base,” Horner said. “Missions like Operation Noble Defender complicate the efforts of adversarial nations to challenge the sovereignty of U.S. and partner nations.”

“NORAD's Operation Noble Defender uses dynamic force employment with our Canadian partners to demonstrate the capability to defend North America from any location at any time,” 140th Wing Commander U.S. Air Force Col. Micah Fesler said. “It's very difficult for an adversary to plan operations against an agile, dynamic defensive posture that can change on short notice.”

March 2024 (5)
February 2024 (1)
January 2024 (3)
December 2023 (5)
November 2023 (3)
October 2023 (6)
September 2023 (2)
August 2023 (3)
July 2023 (6)
June 2023 (4)
May 2023 (6)
April 2023 (2)
March 2023 (2)
February 2023 (2)
January 2023 (6)
December 2022 (5)
November 2022 (5)
October 2022 (2)
September 2022 (7)
August 2022 (5)
July 2022 (3)
June 2022 (7)
May 2022 (3)
April 2022 (4)
March 2022 (3)
February 2022 (4)
January 2022 (5)
December 2021 (7)
November 2021 (3)
October 2021 (2)
September 2021 (2)
August 2021 (6)
July 2021 (4)
June 2021 (1)
May 2021 (5)
April 2021 (5)
March 2021 (5)
February 2021 (2)
January 2021 (3)
December 2020 (3)
November 2020 (7)
October 2020 (6)
September 2020 (6)
August 2020 (8)
July 2020 (9)
June 2020 (7)
May 2020 (10)
April 2020 (9)
March 2020 (2)
February 2020 (4)
January 2020 (5)
December 2019 (6)
November 2019 (2)
October 2019 (8)
September 2019 (4)
August 2019 (7)
July 2019 (5)
June 2019 (2)
May 2019 (6)
April 2019 (9)
March 2019 (2)
February 2019 (2)
January 2019 (3)
December 2018 (4)
November 2018 (6)
October 2018 (2)
September 2018 (3)
August 2018 (9)
July 2018 (1)
June 2018 (1)
May 2018 (1)
April 2018 (5)
October 2017 (1)
May 2017 (1)
April 2017 (2)
March 2017 (2)
February 2017 (3)
January 2017 (1)
November 2016 (1)
October 2016 (2)
September 2016 (5)
August 2016 (3)
July 2016 (4)
May 2016 (2)
April 2016 (3)
March 2016 (1)
February 2016 (4)
January 2016 (1)
December 2015 (1)
November 2015 (3)
October 2015 (3)
September 2015 (2)
August 2015 (1)
July 2015 (1)
June 2015 (2)
May 2015 (3)
March 2015 (1)
February 2015 (1)
October 2014 (1)
September 2014 (1)
June 2014 (1)
April 2014 (1)
May 2013 (1)
April 2013 (4)
March 2013 (8)
February 2013 (9)
January 2013 (7)
November 2012 (1)
April 2012 (2)
January 2012 (1)
March 2010 (1)